Emails are like letters from home

Oh, commissioner emails, how I’ve missed you.

Now that the holidays are over, we can once again turn to weekly commission emails to get a real handle on what's going on.

I’ve switched things up a bit for the new year. Along with a random commissioner’s weekly email, I’m also requesting Chairman Holly Davis’ weekly email as well. The reason being, the chair usually is more involved than other commissioners and, in Davis’ case, she answers many emails.

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Sure enough, I found two topics of immediate interest:

— The Pine Ridge hearing is 5 p.m. Tuesday when commissioners are expected to decide whether to change the community master plan to allow for 85 homes on the closed golf course, which has had no golfers for quite some time.

All of Pine Ridge is seemingly opposed to this plan and they’ll turn out in force at the Courthouse.

I’ve covered a million of these. Neighbors who oppose land-use changes boil down their arguments to generally the same issues:

• Traffic.
• Compatibility.
• Environment (if applicable).
• Property values.

The final one is my favorite. I hear it all the time:

“Allow this and my property values will go down.”

The point being that whatever is planned next door will hurt someone financially. While this is logical to the person making the statement, it’s always been a little lost on me. Who’s to say that houses instead of a golf course will hurt the property values of neighbors who bought on a golf course?

Turns out the property appraiser, that’s who.

This was really rather extraordinary. A neighbor along the golf course sent commissioners a copy of an email he received from the property appraiser’s office after the man asked for consideration.

The property appraiser’s office email reads: “Mr. (Cregg) Dalton has attended some of the golf course neighborhood meetings and we have taken into account the sale and removal of the Pine Ridge Golf Course for this year.”

With that, the appraiser's office dropped the man's taxable value from $50,120 to $37,590.


The note added that all properties backing up to the golf course were also adjusted downward for the same reason. Whether they all got a 25% cut, I don’t know.

I find this fascinating for several reasons. One is that the property appraiser’s office lowered someone’s value based on what might happen, and not what did happen. Yes, the golf course was sold. But it hasn’t been removed from the Pine Ridge master plan, and won’t be unless commissioners vote to do it.

That said, the property appraiser seems to give residents a decent argument. Unlike conjecture about traffic patterns or compatibility, someone has proof that the golf course housing plan is affecting their investment.

I’ll have more on this Monday, including a Cattle Dog chat I had with the developer who is — gasp! — a decent guy.

— One has to really enjoy politics to follow the intricacies of the COPS grant. Forget for a moment the sheriff and County Commission agreeing to apply for a federal grant without checking to see if, you know, they can afford it.

The intriguing issue is who signs the grant contract with the Department of Justice. This was actually a big deal last month, resulting in conference calls with the feds over who exactly needs to sign this thing.

Chairman Holly Davis said she didn’t want to sign it because it holds her liable should any information be incorrect. Since the sheriff’s office compiles the data and would be the ones spending grant funds, Davis rightly balked at putting her name on something she can’t verify.

Well, there’s a little more to it.

The county wants Sheriff Mike Prendergast’s signature up top so that he’s committed to spending the money in an open transparent way which, as we’ve mentioned numerous times, is a little challenging to this sheriff.

A few people emailed Davis suggesting she watch this closely.

Davis replied to one:

“The big question is — how many (deputies) do we really need? I am working on an answer to this, which will not match the sheriff’s estimate.”

Hmmm.

County Attorney Denise Dymond Lyn laid out a scenario in an email to commissioners, suggesting the county consider approving the grant only after Prendergast signs a 7-point affidavit saying he is responsible for it.

(I ask again: Does the sheriff have an attorney? Something of this magnitude with millions of tax dollars at stake, and hiring 43 deputies, I mean…he has a lawyer, right?)

It’s on Tuesday’s agenda as well with plans to hire 15 or 24 deputies over the grant's lifetime, not 43, at a cost of up to $6 million.

Sigh. We all look forward to some clarity.

Have an awesome Thursday, friends.


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